WHEN WE put in a “plug” for the Surplus Machinery Industry our thoughts are not prompted by the idea of grinding our own axe. When we started this publication we were cognizant of the fact that the group that bought, sold and rebuilt equipment represented a separate and distinct industry in itself. Until this publication was launched, a dealer handling machine tools was a small part of the machine tool held. Dealers in surplus and rebuilt electrical equipment were but a small part of that trade. And so on.
Today, the business world recognizes the significant part which the dealer in surplus industrial equipment plays in the economic scheme of things. Good, usable equipment, which ordinarily would have found its way back to the cupola, is now finding its way back to production lines, and most important of all—the Defense production lines. This is true, not only here, but overseas as well, for thousands of surplus and rebuilt machines were shipped from our shores to do a job in the Battle of the British Empire.
To meet the continued demands of foreign democracies, as well as the needs of our own Defense Program, the surplus machinery industry has, by plant and organization expansion, geared up to meet the emergency. A cursory survey shows that this expansion is unparalleled by any non-subsidized industry. Thousands of square feet of floor space, not only in entirely new plants, but in additional units, have been added in the past few years.
In spite of the fact that this surplus business is of a highly speculative nature, and in spite of its being hamstrung by numerous rules and regulations, the industry is carrying on without a squawk.
There are a lot of industries which could tear out of the surplus industry’s book, a page on patriotism.